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The Trouble With Using D&D Rules In Videogames?

An anonymous reader writes "There's a new article on kuro5hin.org about the trouble with porting pencil and paper RPG games (such as d20 3.5) to RPG video games. One such rules-snatching video game is examined, The Temple of Elemental Evil. The article is also an introduction to a new RPG Standards Compliance system that is currently under development and will be online soon, in hopes of bridging the gap between computers and those lovable PnP evenings we all enjoy."

33 of 503 comments (clear)

  1. One question... by Cyno01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where are the cheetos?

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
    1. Re:One question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Graham: Galstaff, you have entered the door to the North, you are now by yourself standing in a dark room. The pungent smell of mildew emanates from the wet dungeon walls
      2: WHERE ARE THE CHEETOS?!?!
      Graham: They're right next to you
      Galstaff: I cast a spell
      2: Where's the mountain dew?
      Graham: In the fridge, DUH!
      Galstaff: I wanna cast a spell!
      2: CAN I HAVE A MOUNTAIN DEW?!?!
      Graham: Yes, you can have a mountain dew just go get it
      Galstaff: I can cast any of these right, on the list?
      Graham: Yes, any of the first level ones
      2: I'M GOING TO GET A SODA, ANYONE WANT ONE?!?! HEY GRAHAM I'M NOT IN THE ROOM RIGHT?
      Graham: What room?
      Galstaff: I want to cast MAGIC MISSILE
      2: THE ROOM WHERE HE'S CASTING ALL THESE SPELLS FROM!
      Graham: He hasn't cast anything yet
      Galstaff: I am though if you'd listen- I'm casting MAGIC MISSILE.
      Graham: Why are you casting magic missile? There's nothing to attack here.
      Galstaff: I... I'm attacking the darkness!

      (LAUGHTER FROM ALL)

      Graham: Fine, fine... you attack the darkness. There's an elf in front of you
      4: WHOA! That's me right?
      Graham: He's wearing a brown tunic, and he has gray hair and blue eyes
      4: No I don't, I have gray eyes
      Graham: Let me see that sheet
      4: Well it says I have... well it says I have blue but I decided I want gray eyes
      Graham: Whatever... Okay, you guys can talk to each other now if you want
      Galstaff: Hello
      4: Hello
      Galstaff: I am Galstaff, sorcerer of light!
      4: Then how come you had to cast magic missile?

      (LAUGHTER FROM ALL)

      Graham: You guys are being attacked
      2: DO I SEE THAT HAPPENING?!?!
      Graham: No, you're outside by the Tavern
      2: COOL, I GET DRUNK
      Graham: Sigh... there are seven ogres surrounding you
      Galstaff: How could they surround us? I had Mordenkainen's Magical Watchdog cast
      Graham: No you didn't!
      2: I'M GETTING DRUNK, ARE THERE ANY GIRLS THERE?
      Galstaff: I totally did! You asked me if I wanted any equipment before this adventure and I said no, but I need material components for all of my spells, so I cast Mordenkaiden's Faithful Watchdog.
      Graham: But you never actually cast it
      2: ROLL THE DICE TO SEE IF I'M GETTING DRUNK!
      Graham: Arghhhh... yeah, you are
      2: ARE THERE ANY GIRLS THERE?
      Graham: Yeah...
      Galstaff: I did though- I completely said when you asked me...
      Graham: NO YOU DIDN'T. You didn't actually say that you were casting the spell so now there's Ogres okay?
      2: OGRES? MAN, I'VE GOT AN OGRE-SLAYING KNIFE, IT'S GOT A +9 AGAINST OGRES!
      Graham: YOU'RE NOT THERE! You're getting drunk!
      2: OKAY, BUT IF THERE ARE ANY GIRLS THERE I WANT TO DO THEM!

    2. Re:One question... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
      Yeah, that's how I remember it too. Though on one occaision my brother was the GM and was really pissed that we spent an entire afternoon and part of evening running amok in a the town he expected us to just outfit in and get going. (instead we tried to rob the store, burglarize a house, my half orc [int of 5] was crawling down mainstreet under an overturned boat like Homer Simpson, burned a store and got half the party almost killed, it was fun :-) another time involved creative methods of interrogation with a pair of pliers.

      And people have to ask why we played those games. It wasn't for killing and treasure and shit, that's for sure. :-)

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    3. Re:One question... by terrox · · Score: 1, Funny

      Our games don't sound like that, ever heard of Attention deficit disorder?
      cut back on the sugar.

  2. For success... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny

    For success they must roll at least an 18

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  3. Major Problem by DumbWhiteGuy777 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It still doesn't tell how Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is different from regular Dungeons and Dragons. I've asked around and no one knows. I'm starting to think nerds just made it up to sound smart.

    "I'm playing Dungeons and Dragons."
    "Oh yeah? I'm playing ADVANCED Dungeons and Dragons"

    1. Re:Major Problem by Stregone · · Score: 2, Funny

      One of my friends who was a DM all through highschool charged a quarter for a ressurection if you died and couldn't be ressurected by the other players. If you wanted the character back.

      That enabled him to buy a huge pile of D&D books, lol.

  4. 8bit D&D Flash Movie by yamcha666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ask and thou shalt receive...

    8bit D&D Flash Movie

  5. Re:A Friend of Mine... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now to get him to port it to gtk or qt...

    That'll work, if by "port" you mean "completely rewrite in another programming language".

  6. At last by women · · Score: 1, Funny

    An article where no one can say "this isn't news for nerds!"

    --
    If you're a fan of women, add me to your friends list.
  7. Re:The problem is by bahwi · · Score: 2, Funny

    Powergaming in D&D?

    No way! I don't believe it!

  8. My biggest problem... by raehl · · Score: 4, Funny

    My biggest problem with porting pencil and paper games to video games was finding a pencil that would write on the screen. Then I realized that dry-erase markers worked really well, and as an added bonus it was much easier to change the stats on your character without leaving those nasty eraser smudges.

  9. The miracle here, folks... by raehl · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is that someone who played AD&D managed to procreate.

  10. Best quote by andfarm · · Score: 4, Funny

    From the comments: "I've seen d&d accused of being satanist for years, but I've never seen an actual personal perspective on d&d from the Devil." (link)

    --

    TANSTAAFI: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free iPod.

  11. Oh My God! What Have I Done? by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1, Funny

    I switched to K5 ages ago because I thought it was less geeky than /.

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  12. Re:I have an Informative +9, Troll Slayer! by corbettw · · Score: 2, Funny

    I started in 1992, with my dad, when I was 7

    Hmm, 1992-7=1985. Holy shit, kid, I've been playing RPGs since before you were born!

    --
    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  13. Re:Using long words gets me +5 Insightful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    BTW, I'd like to just point out that I haven't touched a P+P game since I was 12
    Last year must seem like a long time ago eh?
  14. Unintended player behavior by Old+Man+Kensey · · Score: 4, Funny
    In engineering there's the maxim "build an idiot-proof device, and nature will build a better idiot." In RPGs there seems to be a parallel: build a better locked room, and someone will cast a better portal spell:

    http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=35eaccc3.6520 1896%40news.earthlink.net

    --
    -- Old Man Kensey
    1. Re:Unintended player behavior by Feanturi · · Score: 4, Funny

      That reminds me of a time our DM had us prepped for a really 'heavy' campaign one night, he had hyped up how incredibly hard it was going to be. He had characters too, that had various things, and one of them gave me a wish somehow (don't remember, wand scroll whatever) to take along in case we needed it bad. He wasn't playing any characters that night. So I burned the wish right near the beginning *grin*, when we ran into his big uber-puzzle that we were supposed to be incredibly frustrated with for a long time.

      As we hemmed and hawed on what to try, I muttered, "I wish I could figure this thing out.."

      The DM responded, "Well, you guys will have to figure it out, I told you this was going to be hard."

      I clarified: "No, I said I WISH I could figure this thing out!"

      The look on his face was priceless. "You fucking bastard!" He'd apparently forgotten about giving me the wish earlier, from one of his characters.
      He let it work (I think it was even a God Wish), he had to. :)

    2. Re:Unintended player behavior by Frogbert · · Score: 3, Funny

      I once had DM make a seriously long quest to retrive a new mirror for a town's lighthouse before a ship was due in. We had three days to complete the quest so I wispered to my comrades a daring plan that would involve much drinking and doing not a lot at all. After three days of drinking and resting in the local tavern (and the local lockup due to an impromptue brawl) I walked up to the lighthouse, put my hand on its wall and cast glow.

      The DM was so annoyed by then he had the towns people chase us out of town pitchforks and all due to the fact they now couldn't sleep... pfft ungrateful fools.

    3. Re:Unintended player behavior by barawn · · Score: 3, Funny

      I clarified: "No, I said I WISH I could figure this thing out!"

      The look on his face was priceless. "You fucking bastard!" He'd apparently forgotten about giving me the wish earlier, from one of his characters.


      Unclever GM. The classic response there is, of course, "OK. You are now capable of figuring this thing out." To be nice, give them a bonus to intelligence or something. Heh.

      Or, of course, the classic response...here. (Check the two previous for better examples).

  15. Re:Mature and robust by Bagheera · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sorry, Citizen. You are not allowed to know that you are playing a game. Please report to the Computer for routing debriefing and clone incrementation.

    Thank you.

    Have a nice day.

    The computer is your friend.

    (You know, I seem to remember someone doing a text adventure of Paranoia...)

    --
    Never attribute to malice what can as easily be the result of incompetence...
  16. Re:The problem is by PsiPsiStar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not everybody wants to play the role of a whiny, neurotic, tortured Gothic denizen of the night.

    No, you go to Slashdot for that.

    Of course, that's not really fair of me.

    You're probably not gothic.

    --

    ___
    It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
  17. computers vs people by scotartt · · Score: 3, Funny

    At the top of the article the author says "Computers are very rational, and people are abstract;"

    Programmer joke: if people are "abstract" how come I keep seeing so many instances of them. Maybe they are subclasses?

    Anyway it's completely trite. And untrue. Computers are algorithmic. Humans can be rational, which is usually defined as 'capable of exercising reason'.

    Unless, of course the author means rational as in mathematics, as in a rational number (i.e. a number that can be represented as a fraction). But in this definition, the author is even more wrong; computers are of course binary machines.

    This is just the sort of faulty reasoning that makes me stop reading articles. Quite aside from that first sentence !!! from this single example, perhaps we can conclude (erroneously) that people aren't abstract, they are illiterate. At least in this instance.

    --
    -A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed-
  18. Yoda speaks Yiddish by Myrmidon · · Score: 4, Funny
    Where does this sentence come from?

    The rule in computing is that the more bugs you encounter, the further from standards you must be adhering.


    1. the article
    2. Zippy's Guide to Software Project Mangement
    3. Eric Raymond after drinking three bottles of vodka

  19. Re:I have an Informative +9, Troll Slayer! by Mycroft_VIII · · Score: 2, Funny

    You know I was thinking the same thing, started in 1981. Where do these kids get the idea that playing for a mere 12 years counts as a long time :) (and I had roll my dice in the snow, uphill, both ways..er somthing like that)

    Mycroft

    --
    https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
  20. Re:The problem is by Sloppy · · Score: 5, Funny
    How is this roleplaying? How is knowing that your weapon will deal 2 points more of damage a turn on average versus a competitor the deciding factor for someone who wants to play a role as a knight (as an example)?
    Why did Thulsa Doom, in his younger days, quest for the secret of steel? And then why did he change his whole strategy when he learned that flesh was stronger than steel?

    Because he learned. He wanted power, and he learned better and better ways to get it.

    Powergaming happens in the meta-game above real life. The guy who plays me, is probably explaining to his DM why the character switched to Python a few years ago. I can see it now, the DM says, "But Sloppy was into C! You're playing him wrong, you fucking munchkin, just to get a +2 on your programming roll." Then the player tries to explain that the character learned something about the relative values of programmer time vs compute time, but the DM shakes his head. "Sloppy is too dumb to learn," he says.

    The player complains, and the DM threatens, "Look, just shut up, already. I'm getting tired of this." But the player persists.

    Finally, the fed-up DM says, "That's it. Cthulhu appears and kills your character."

    Ok, Aglassis, I want you to think about what you did. You just got me killed in what we call "real life", and Cthulhu is now wandering around. Do you think anyone in the world is safe, now? Cthulhu is out, and you're going to die too. Way to go. I hope you remember that, when your player rolls up the next Aglassis. And ask yourself: who is the real munchkin? The guy who was trying to convince the DM that I could learn from experience to try to become more powerful? Or the narrow-minded DM who thought characters shouldn't adapt, and then in a childish tantrum, set Cthulhu loose on the world?

    --
    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  21. Re:I'd disagree by Gildor · · Score: 2, Funny

    > Hell, if you played for 40 hour, only gained 3 levels, but had a kickass time playing, wouldn't that be alright? The goal of the game should nopt be to make the character as high level > as possible.

    I'm a munchkin, you insensitive clod!

  22. Re:I'm not really into D&D stuff by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 4, Funny

    then if they keep repeating the same actions over and over, you could potentially detect this and trigger appropriate events accordingly.

    It looks like you may be trying to write a letter!

  23. Re:The problem is ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    How are Werewolf and Mage archtypal goth games?

    Wraith and Vampire, yes, very clearly. Werewolf is a game for eco-freaks and Mage is a game for pretentious pseudo-intellectual f***-heads who read the Philosophy of the Matrix and talk about the I Ching.

    Hunter is for DnD players who want to kill White Wolf playing goths and spend half the game buying guns and explosives. Demon is for Kevin Smith fans. Changeling is for 40 year old overweight virginal women who cast love spells and wear gossimer wings.

    If you're going to stereotype, get them right.

  24. Funny DM story... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    When we started out, we would always screw up drawing our map. Out of frustration, our DM would pull the sheet of graph paper over to him and start correcting our mistakes. If we did this enough, inevitably it would go like this:
    "...and this wall goes five blocks here to the secret door... shit!"

    But the greatest was in a large castle where we got to the treasure room pretty quickly (this was intentional) and saw a pile of loot. It was at the end of a hallway. Problem was there was a large holes in the ceiling and floor of the hallway, with about a 250mph wind whipping through it. The story was some crap about the castle's ventilation system. He was trying to tease us with the view to get us to spend a month trekking through the castle. Well, after getting pissed off, someone in our group realized we had an enlarging potion (or spell or something), and got the bright idea to cast it on our paladin's shield as he threw it over the hole. The shield expanded, capped the hole, and proceeded to help ourselves. We eventually negotiated with the DM for half the loot, since he threatened to make us spend the next six months carrying it all the way back to town.

  25. Re:What a crappy article. by devnull17 · · Score: 2, Funny

    My favorite part is his use of the term "distributed database." I'd comment further, but I have to go finish building my 4-CPU cluster of SQL Server boxen so I can play Final Fantasy.

  26. Re:Is this the gamers fault. by eison · · Score: 2, Funny

    Infocom and Legend both went out of business taking this route.

    Meanwhile, Deer Hunter is a best seller.

    --
    is competition good, or is duplication of effort bad?